Phew, well I've finally finished my entry, and it has officially taken days and done my head in!!!

and this is the picture I based it from, me with Shrek ears, which is also my facebook profile picture

Positives:- using canvas was a stroke of genius as I could stick pins through it to hold the pasta in place until dried

Negatives:- acrylics don't stick to pva very well, next time paint the block colours on the canvas first (for the gaps between the pasta etc)- my green paint was totally dried out and I should have just gone and bought more rather than making a hash of trying to wet it!!- cooked pasta looks perfect when you put it together.... but shrinks hugely when it dries and then leaves massive gaps....

And here are the in-progress piccies, which will make me feel better to post since they show how good it looked before it bloomin dried!!!

Initial sketch, with first bits of pasta applied

Hair and 1 ear done

More pasta applied, and some premature painting done (should have waited for it to dry but was super impatient!!)

The state of play before I went to bed leaving everything to dry fully. Note the extra [unpainted] pasta I added in an attempt to fill the stupid gaps that appeared after drying

And following completion!!!! Pop art styley Shrek self-portrait made from cooked spaghetti, and dry conchiglie, canvas, and lots of swearing

Thanks for looking, hope you like it, I certainly enjoying spending a couple of days being a kid again

This just made my day. It's so fun and colorful! The in-progress photos are fabulous, too.

I wouldn't have thought of the shrinkage issue, either.

I did mean to try the idea first to see if shrinkage happened, and check that paint would stick but as with everything I left it until the last minute!!

One of the hardest bits was getting the pasta at the right point, after a couple of mins it was still breakable, but fully cooked it was too soft and I kept cutting it with my nails, so I had to do small batches of pasta and work as quickly as possible!!

I love everything about it, the pasta, the colours, the photo it's based off of...

T he he, thank you so much, I do love that photo! If the pasta portrait holds together well enough to hang I plan to hang it in the kitchen, and I might even make a similar one of Mr Loops, he doesn't need Shrek ears to make him look funny

Oh I love that you have in progress pics! The hair is absolutely beautiful, reminds me of the old clay shows like Gumbi. Also I really like the shells on the background, I think I may use shells in regular paintings, looks like it gives great texture to it!